I’ve been busy with my new job and rarely had time to post lately, but an incident tonight is bringing me back to make a post.

As many of you know, I took MARC to DC as part of a commute to Northern Virginia for about a year. After a few months in Baltimore, I recently returned to taking MARC everyday as part of my commute to downtown DC. So, I’m now adding another chapter to the past blogging about MARC here at Inside Charm City. In fact, I wrote most of this sitting on a MARC train as I commuted home.

For my first month or so back working in DC, I’ve had very few problems with MARC that affected me. There has been crowding on the morning train I normally take (the 513) at times by the time it gets to Halethorpe or BWI due to issues with a short consist (I think.) The S service was great the days I worked during the snow (Tuesday after the first round and Friday after Round 2.) The customer service on the 513 in the morning is great. The conductor actually keeps people out of the vestibules when it gets crowded. He actually apologizes for delays even when it’s an issue that is out of anyone’s control. I experienced one late night snafu when I took the 9:00 pm train out of DC home one night and it broke down at Seabrook that resulted in me getting home an hour later than scheduled after taking a MARC train south, an Amtrak train north, and another MARC train north again. Other than that, there were no major issues.

About the time I started commuting to DC everyday, MARC started prepping for a new policy at Union Station that caused a lot of discussion on local blogs. Off the top of my head, I recall Michael Dresser discussing it. DCist, Greater Greater Washington and probably Stuck on MARC all discussed it as well. It was an issue that needed addressing by the powers-that-be at Union Station. It related to the waiting situation at Union Station. They started requiring Penn Line passengers to board through Gate B and C and Camden/Brunswick passengers board through the main gate at A.

There was always a problem with people crowding onto the platforms when trains come in before they’re ready to be boarded. This clogs up the platform for all the Amtrak personnel working out there as well as making it hard for people to get to the station who are leaving the trains. Addressing the situation with some sort of policy was needed. The previous policy seemed to be for the MARC employee “Fred” (never got his last name) to make up some sort of lie like a fictional hazmat situation on an inbound train or the fact that the Philadelphia Flyers were inbound (I checked the schedule – they were in Canada that night) and the platform would be closed.

A lot of the comments on blogs centered around the problems the new gate arrangement would cause for Penn Line passengers who were Metro riders who exit the Metro station on the end closest to the train platform. The back hallway leads right to Gate A.

I honestly usually end up on the train that leaves at 7:40 lately. Last night, thanks to Metro, I was boarding the 6:40 and went right through Gate A to the Penn Line train at 6:39. Most trains usually board more than 10 minutes out from departure, so tonight when I got to the back hallway and saw my train I was a bit surprised to see the train hadn’t started boarding yet even though I could see it on the track and there was no one disembarking from that train still.

This is where the policy and rigid adherence to it in the face of common sense, coupled with a power-tripping  employee, results in problems. A MARC employee I had seen before (and he was being rude the times I saw him before) but never had the pleasure of actually interacting with was standing in the doors and running people out of the back hallway and into the main waiting area and reiterating the policy about B and C for Penn with A for Brunswick and Camden.

I went out to the main part of the station and a retractable rope line was covering the door to Gate B. The waiting area for B and C was as crowded as the dangerously overcrowded MARC trains have gotten in  the past and made the sardine can of a Red Line train on Metro that I had just exited from look spacious by comparison. The line out of Gate C was 3 or 4 wide and approaching the exit of the waiting area out across from Hudson News.

I went back over and milled around by the waiting area where people standing wait for trains outside Gate A usually. I was expecting the boarding call for the train to happen at anytime so I went back out to the hallway to see if the policy was still being so rigidly enforced. My new-found friend was still there and getting incredulous reactions from some passengers coming from the Metro down the back hallway as the train’s departure time drew closer.

I went over by the ticket machines and stood for a minute and as he was reiterating that you could go to Gate B and C if you were Penn Line. I am by no means a surly or loud person. In fact, most of my friends would probably say I am meek and mild-mannered. I didn’t raise my voice or use profanity. I called him “Sir” several times. I pointed out to this gentleman that I had just been at Gate B and it was closed with a rope across it. He was having none of it. He told me it was open when just a few minuters earlier I saw the barrier across it with my own eyes. When I tried to reiterate my point he argued it briefly before saying he wasn’t going to argue with me. I asked for his name twice before he gave it to me. He was wearing his Amtrak access badge but was not wearing it where his name could be seen, nor was he wearing a name tag. For the record for anyone reading this at MTA, he gave his name as David Johnson.

I went back out and lo and behold Gate B’s door was open by now after being closed a few minutes earlier. As I went through Johnson was standing inside and appeared to be smirking at me as I made a comment to no one in particular about the fire marshal and overcrowding.

There are two main problems with their attempted solution for a legitimate problem. They are making it problematic for Metro passengers to board Penn Line trains via the back hallway. I recall this being discussed on other sites when the plan was first announced. My other problem relates to fire and evacuation hazards in the enclosed waiting areas at Gate B and C.

In addition to the overcrowding inside, I’ve seen rope barricades blocking either door from the station. I’ve also noticed both in the mornings and evenings the use of bicycle rack style barricades across the outsides of the doors going from the waiting areas to the platform. One night these were still in place after the boarding announcement for that gate’s train was made.  This can’t be safe and I’m not sure the DC Fire Marshal would be too fond of an overcrowded area with exit routes in either direction blocked. I’ve noticed this for Amtrak trains as well.

This policy’s flaws along with the rudeness of MARC employee David Johnson have caused me to make a negative post about MARC after having mainly good things about the system in the past 2 months. The recurring theme of problems with MARC seems to center around communications problems, and I’d lump rude employees like David Johnson in that category after tonight.

I’m sure MARC employees deal with rude and surly customers all the time and I’m sure they become quite profane at times. However, treating me like the enemy because I dared to ask a question and didn’t back down when I reported seeing something firsthand is inexcusable.

MARC still needs to work on their communications issues with customers whether it be face-to-face, emails, or announcements on trains and platforms. They need to work out a better way of communicating and implementing their plan for boarding in the afternoons as well. Potentially dangerous situations related to overcrowding and blocked exits concern me the most. The issues with Metro passengers trying to board Penn Line trains is one that bears monitoring as well.

Julia Marsh

Either Vice President Joe Biden or his wife Jill are responsible for the occasional “security hold” delays out of Union Station, said MTA MARC Train Director John Hovatter.

I noticed the “security hold” delays over the past week or so. They have never called them that before when they even bothered to mention them. Reports from numerous MARC passengers indicate that it’s usually accompanied by barricades on the platforms and government vehicles driving right in to the platforms at Union Station. This has been going on off and on at least since Biden’s election as VP in November 2008. The “security hold” delay announcement for MTA just showed up in the past week or two.

I can safely say this since I was a daily MARC passenger from Martin Airport to Union Station every morning from July 2008-July 2009 and then rode back to either BWI or Martin most afternoons on the way home. I still am an occasional MARC passenger but I’m usually lucky enough to leave after morning rush hour and get out of DC before the afternoon rush when possible. I have been subscribed to the MARC (and every other MTA service) email alerts for every single line for sometime now in an effort to provide coverage on this site when major delays (even the ones MTA refers to as minor) pop up.

Maybe this “security hold” reason given for MARC delays is being thrown in for Biden-caused delays to get people ready for the new security checkpoints MARC says they’re implementing starting today? Some call it security theater at this point for MARC to only start these in late 2009.

I have blogged before about passengers emailing about Biden causing their commute to be lengthened by delays during the middle of afternoon rush hour before and I’d heard it firsthand from people waiting on platforms before. In most of those cases a generic delay was given if any delay at all was given. Of course, not giving an explanation for delays is almost SOP at some points with MARC in my past experience.

I have some objections to these delays. The first is security related. I don’t know that the Secret Service cares too much for normal travel by train for the VP or his family. Railroads are on a fixed path which means they can be defended easier but they can also be attacked easier. Those of you who were riding MARC before and after the inauguration earlier this year will remember that many of the parking lots of MARC stations were closed off following Friday service the weekend before the inauguration and that in those days all the big heavy trash cans were removed from the platforms to prevent any devices from being placed in them.

The reason for these security measures: the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect were taking a train excursion from Philadelphia to Washington (with a stop for a speech in Baltimore that ended up being a snub of Mayor Sheila Dixon) on the Saturday before the inaugural. Those lots are all open and the trash cans are all there when Biden takes the train to Wilmington now. MTA’s “security hold” emails could be used as a tip-off for someone planning something farther up the line.

Marsh, of Stuck on MARC, actually likes Biden riding Amtrak because she says, “It’s pretty cool and true to Biden’s blue collar creds that the second couple still uses public transportation.”

I guess Marsh forgets when Biden said earlier this year he would keep his family off public transportation, including subways and commercial airliners, because of the swine flu threat. Biden or his family taking Amtrak at this point is either pure political posturing or pigheadedness.

As I’ve noted, there are likely security concerns for this mode of travel. More importantly, when Biden or his wife decide they want to hop the Northeast Regional home in the middle of the afternoon rush hour they are inconveniencing all of the MARC and Amtrak passengers whose time I contend is just as valuable, if not more valuable, than that of the Bidens.

These very same passengers are being saddled with the security costs and transportation costs of the Bidens and their security arrangements. If the Bidens get their own reserved car, then they are adding to environmental concerns. Riding in their own private car also shows how patrician train travel is for them, rather than the plebeian exercise Julia Marsh would like to make it. Besides, Amtrak is losing $32 a passenger already.

It is good that it is finally confirmed now that Biden and his family are indeed the causes for what used to be unknown delays or delays that were simply assumed to be because of him.

We received this report from Twitter user @erintangerine:

cranky bmore commuters waiting at union station for vp to get on amtrak so we can get home!

Can any other MARC or Amtrak commuters confirm the report?

If true, it would be pretty insensitive of Vice President Joe Biden to tie up the platform at Union Station in the middle of Friday afternoon rush hour. In addition to MARC commuters trying to get home to Baltimore and other places, Friday afternoon is usually a pretty busy time for Amtrak business as well. The station is usually jammed on a normal Friday afternoon.

I’m surprised he even still takes Amtrak since his election as VP. I would think it could be a security concern unless massive preparations like those for the pre-Inaugural train trip that then President-Elect Obama took along with Biden back in January.

UPDATE
MARC has started emailing delay messages for trains this afternoon. Unlike the usual emails, no reason is given:

5:29 PM
PENN:MARC 436 (WASH Dept 5:34pm) expected to depart Washington 15-20 minutes late.